At Motel 6

5:47 P.M. Sept. 17th, 2024

The lock jiggled as the key had been inserted into the door. Pushing it open, the man stumbled into the motel room and closed the door, relocking it.

Clad in off-the-rack clothes and a coat he'd gotten at an army surplus store. The man no longer resembled the mid-level manager he'd been three weeks ago. Looking at him now, Jae-woo Lee resembled a homeless man or drug addict.

"Yes," he mumbled out loud as he tossed the bag he carried onto the cheap bed.

Sitting down on the bed, he pulled out the handgun and ammunition he purchased. Jae stroked the box containing his newly purchased Sig-Sauer P320.

"I finally know where my whore of a wife is, and with this... I make her pay," he babbled to himself.

He should have listened to his mother, who'd told him Sunyi was unworthy of him, but he'd been young and blinded by her beauty.

First, she'd failed to give him a son. Then she failed him by not being with him, so he had to use those dirty Thai whores. She failed to properly train their daughter in how to be a proper female. His hand tightened as he remembered the legal papers that had awaited him when he was released.

"No... my dear wife. You won't get away so easily; the piper must be paid," he cackled.

For two weeks he'd been thwarted in tracking down his traitorous bride. He might still be stymied if he hadn't heard about that charity car wash on the radio. His blood boiled as he spied on them, watching his whorish daughter prance around in that bikini. Looking like the sluts on the covers of the car magazines.

The Bae-gin had been so entranced by his whores that he'd failed to see Jae tailing them. Now he knew exactly where the man lived.

"They've both betrayed you, Jae. They're whores for that fucking Bae-gin teacher," sneered Jae's subconscious.

"Never," cackled the unstable man. "I'll see them dead first."

Always studious and serious, Jae had privately seethed at the jokes his classmates had flung at him like a monkey throwing feces. "Slant eye," they'd called him; "gook," they'd jeered with every A he'd gotten. But he'd succeeded; he was successful. Only for a fucking Bae-gin to take what was Jae's... Never!

Putting down the gun, Jae reached into his jacket, pulling out the folded papers. Unfolding them, he looked at the one-way ticket to Seoul, South Korea. The land of his ancestors, the place his parents should have never left. His flight was wheels up at 4:18 a.m. on Sept. 27th.

Looking up, Jae-woo Lee let out a belt of unhinged laughter. "Vengeance is coming, my love..."